Varieties of craft beer are seen at a microbrewery NBeer Pub in Beijing, China, March 6, 2016.
Photo:
Reuters

Most people consider beer to have originated from Western dietary culture — but a recent discovery by Chinese and American researchers tells a different story.

In a study published in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Stanford University archaeological researchers say they have found evidence that people in ancient China may have started brewing beer at least roughly 5,000 years ago.

The researchers excavated a site named Mijiaya in north China and discovered a tradition of beer brewing that they say originated in the Neolithic Yangshao period dating 5,000 to 7,000 years ago.

Jiajing Wang, first author of the academic paper, spoke with China Real Time by phone from Stanford University. Below are excerpts from the interview, edited for style and length.

1) What were the main findings from your study?

A funnel from the Mijiaya site.

Jiajing Wang, Stanford Archaeology Center

As the title of our article says, our research found that ancient Chinese people started brewing beer in the late Yangshao Period — that is to say, about 5,000 years ago. We also found barley residue. The previous discovery was that people in China started to plant barley from 1,000 to 2,000 B.C. But now, we found it was actually much earlier, from around 3,000 B.C. Lastly, alcohol is always relevant to social levels and religion, which means that 5,000 years ago, different social classes must have existed.

2) Where did you find the recipe, and how could you tell that it was an ancient Chinese recipe for beer?

There are three major aspects of our discovery. First, we examined the residue of the starch granules and found that many of them were noticeably damaged (in a manner that occurs during beer-making); this matched what we’d found in our previous discoveries. Second, we also found millet and barley. Third, via chemical analysis, we found that the residue contains oxalic acid, and we think this might be derived from calcium oxalate — also called “beerstone” — which is a byproduct of beer brewing.

3) Why did you decide to research ancient Chinese beer brewing in the first place?

Research into alcoholic drinks is actually quite popular in the world. No matter in anthropology or archaeology, it is a very hot topic, and alcohol could link all aspects of society. At the same time, some other researchers have found many pottery funnels and have claimed they must have been used for alcohol, but they didn’t mention the funnels’ specific usage. We were very interested in it and thought the funnels might be relevant to producing alcohol. Our supervisor said the Mijiaya site could be a good place for sampling, so we went there last summer and got the residue from pieces of pottery.

The hypothesis that ancient Chinese people might have had beer-brewing skills has been around for a while. First, agriculture was already advanced and stable there. Second, beer existed in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (more than) 3,000 years ago, so we were thinking there might have been similar things in China during the same time. But we didn’t have a good method to do research back then. Eventually, we decided to do this residue research. Testing the residue is much more direct than studying the tools (of production).

4) From the tools that those people used at the time, can you figure out the what the beer would have tasted like?

To be honest, I have been asked this question by many people, but I really don’t know. I don’t have a method to know the sugar content, so I really don’t know how it would taste. I only know the raw materials. I was also asked to compare which brand of beer in the supermarket would have a similar taste, which was really funny. But I do believe it is possible to follow the process and produce the beer again. Actually, a private beer company has already contacted me; they want to get the recipe and make the beer now. It’s so hilarious.

These are exciting findings. It would be interesting to know if beer played an important role in the evolution of Chinese civilization, how was it that China's preferred alcoholic beverage became baijiu?

BTW, reproducing ancient beverages is not a trivial thing. Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery has worked with Dr. Patrick McGovern to produce a series of ancient ales, including one from China's Jiahu archeological site. This time, I think it would be good to see a craft brewery in China reproduce the Mijiaya brew.